$5.9M dam closure would stop Asian carp, attorneys general argue

LANSING, MI -- Attorneys general in three Great Lakes states want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ditch an expensive Illinois Waterway lock redesign and simply close the shipping conduit entirely to keep Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan.

Closing the Brandon Road Lock & Dam on the Des Plaines River with a permanent concrete wall would cost about $5.9 million, compared to the $275 million "flushing lock" project Army Corps is proposing to finish by 2025, the group argued in a joint letter.

Republican Bill Schuette, Michigan attorney general, joined Democrat counterparts Lori Swanson of Minnesota and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania to call for closing the Brandon Road lock -- a bottleneck in the Chicago waterway system that's become the focal point in the debate about how to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

The three attorneys submitted the letter as a formal comment on the Army Corps' so-called Brandon Road plan, which includes a new electric barrier, a new "flushing lock" that would deter fish with noise cannons and a re-engineered shipping channel with water jets.

Environmental groups have expressed lukewarm support for the plan even though it allows for a 10 to 17 percent chance silver and bighead carp could move upstream through the gauntlet and become established in Lake Michigan.

Inland barge operators and the Illinois state government oppose the plan as an unnecessary and costly burden to shipping traffic.

Any work wouldn't begin until for several years, assuming the Trump administration and Congress approve and fund the project.

Swanson, Schuette and Shapiro argue the plan is inherently flawed because it disregards the cheapest, quickest and most effective means of halting spread of the invasive fish -- closing the lock, which, they say, could begin almost immediately by closing the gates.

The group cites an analysis co-authored by Wayne State University supply chain management professor John C. Taylor and East Lansing transportation consultant James Roach that concludes the Corps overstates the economic impact of closing the dam, which the Corps determined would hit shippers and bulk producers with about $318 million in "lost transportation cost savings."

That number -- which justified disregarding lock closure as a viable option -- is "meaningless and misleading" they argue, because "it appears to assume that if barge traffic is interrupted at any point along the waterway, cargoes currently moving through that point will inevitably shift to a more expensive overland mode of transportation for their entire journey."

"This would not happen in the real world since barge commodities are typically available from many sources and numerous transportation options are available. There will be some disruption, but shippers will respond to lock closure by changes in commodity sources, transport modes, and shipping patterns that will continue to meet their needs."

A more realistic number, they argue, is $115-124 million.

The plan also doesn't estimate the ecological and economic costs to Great Lakes states, businesses and people if Asian carp become established, they argue.

"Even if such costs of establishment cannot be precisely quantified, it is evident that they will be at least an order of magnitude greater than any plausible estimate of increased transportation costs," they write.

"For example, one of the many public values provided by the Great Lakes that are at risk if Asian carp become established - the recreational sport fishery - has, standing alone, an annual economic value in the billions of dollars," they write. "Moreover, the Corps' simplistic and unbalanced economic analysis fails to consider that the harm from establishment of Asian carp in the Great Lakes will be permanent and irreversible."